Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Starting to fall into place

Slowly but surely I’m getting things figured out.  Yesterday I drove around to a few more properties and then tried to get a local bank account.  I chose a credit union in the area because I have enjoyed using mine where I live now.  I went in to the credit union, signed in and had to wait an hour for someone to see me.  I told them I was interested in opening an account.  I was told that I qualified because I am working for the school district, but without a local address they couldn’t open an account.  It was a catch 22 situation because I needed the local bank account in order to get certified funds to put a deposit down on a rental – but they wouldn’t open an account until I had a local address.  So in frustration I went to have lunch.  I went to Johnny Carino’s and had shrimp scampi.  I regrouped and headed back to the hotel to check out some other bank options online.  I decided to go with a nationwide bank – figuring that not having a local address would be a problem.  Since I already had a credit card with Bank of America, I went there.  They were happy to do business with me.  I don’t believe in paying for checking accounts, but thankfully the fee is waived since I’m choosing direct deposit.  I also opened a savings account and am doing the “keep the change” thing where when I use my debit card, everything is rounded up to the next dollar amount and the extra amount is automatically put into savings. 

I had my interview at 4:00 and I was late to it because of opening the account.  I got to the bank at 3:00 and didn’t get to leave until 4:00.  Luckily the school was only about a mile away, but I hate that I was late.  I apologized and explained why, but was concerned about it all night.  In spite of that, I thought the interview was pretty good.  I think I impressed them with some of my answers, but couldn’t really tell.  This morning I got a call from the guy that originally interviewed me in the district and he said that I was recommended for the job – so that is a relief.  I got the middle school and I’ll be in one location rather than having to split campuses. 

Yesterday I viewed two potential houses.  One was in a great location – only 5 miles from my school and in a very new and updated community.  It was a 2 story townhouse, but kind of small.  All the bedrooms were upstairs and one of them was very tiny.  There was only one full bath to be shared between all the bedrooms upstairs.  The living room and kitchen downstairs were fine and there was a half bath.  It had a fenced back yard and a two car detached garage but no automatic garage door opener.  The price, however, was really good.  The agent then mentioned another property that they had that just became available so we went to look at it.  It was a single story and larger by about 200 more square feet.  It had a better layout, larger yard, and a great master bathroom and closet.  It also had a double car garage both with openers.  The price was about $150 more per month, however.  It was also another 5 or 6 miles west from the other house making it further from school – but still manageable.

Last night I had dinner with my ex-husband.  We had a nice visit and he said that he is very proud of me.  He and his girlfriend just broke up so he’s still dealing with that.  I found some stuff that belonged to him while packing so I brought it to him. One less box to move. 

Today I slept in and then went out driving.  My cousin that lives here loves living “inside the loop” and suggested I look at houses in certain areas so I did a lot of driving around town today looking at more houses.  Only one area was really a place that I thought would be great, but the house was as expensive as the one I’m looking at tomorrow which is much closer and has a garage.  But I did get more of general feel for the city and where things are.  I made an appointment to view one more house tomorrow.  It is $45 more per month than the second one I saw yesterday, however, it is 500 square feet larger.  I think it would be worth it for more space.  It also already has a refrigerator which is a plus.  The other house didn’t come with one.  The neighborhood is also the same one where the townhouse was, but it is just a single story home.  It is also near the community pool.  So I hope to get the house decision wrapped up by tomorrow.  That way I can take care of updating everything with personnel at work before I head back home to do more packing.

San Antonio got a nice rainstorm today.  I started just after I got back to the hotel and lasted over an hour.  After it stopped I ventured out to get food.  I went to Cracker Barrel for dinner but they were having some issues.  Apparently the storm caused a surge of some kind which took out their grill.  So you could order anything that was baked or fried, but not grilled.  I ordered the roast beef but then they ran out of corn.  But I guess they did the best they could and I still left a good tip for the waiter because most of the issues weren’t his fault.  (Though he was slow in taking my order.)

So now I’m back at the hotel and am thinking of going to bed soon.  I’ve just been watching t.v. and looking up stuff on the computer.  I think I’ll sleep in again tomorrow.

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